Own Or Other Culture
Own Or Other Culture by Judith Okely, published by Routledge in 1996, presents a critical examination of the assumptions surrounding fieldwork in Western contexts. This edition, comprising 244 pages, delves into the complexities of social anthropology through a collection of articles spanning two decades. Okely challenges the notion that studying cultures in the West is straightforward, addressing themes such as reflexivity, the cultural positioning of anthropologists, and the role of feminism within the discipline.
Readers will find a thorough exploration of various topics, including the author’s personal experiences in a British boarding school and the dynamics of cultural difference as seen through the lens of Gypsy communities. The book also reassesses feminist contributions to anthropology, drawing on the works of de Beauvoir and Kaberry, while engaging with contemporary discussions about gender and bodily experience. Own or Other Culture invites readers to reconsider established narratives in anthropology and reflects on the intricate relationships between culture, identity, and social science.
Official synopsis Publisher
Own or Other Culture challenges those anthropologists who suggest that fieldwork in the ‘West’ is easy or merely a reiteration of what is already ‘known’ to either Westerners or non Westerners. Revealing some pioneering articles in social anthropology written over a period of twenty years, Judith Okely discusses selected themes which include:
* questions of reflexivity and autobiography
* anthropology in Europe
* the cultural location of the anthropologist
* feminism in anthropology. Illustrated with photographs, Own or Other Culture covers subjects ranging from the author’s own boarding school revealing a British exotica and colonial comparisons, to how Gypsies, who treat non-Gypsies as the ‘other’, act to create or manipulate cultural difference.
Feminist anthropology is developed in a reassessment of de Beauvoir and Kaberry while gender and bodily experience is explored in the face of popular demands by women readers for cross-cultural examples.
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